Thursday, April 7, 2011

Stuart, Florida

After two fairly long days we have crossed Florida through 5 locks and across the country's second largest fresh water lake, Lake Okeechobee. We are on a mooring ball in the St. Lucie River, just a few miles from the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.

Many of you have asked about the lovely problems of fixing our holding tank. I am pleased to say it is done, and the boat is odor free. My smeller is not so sensitive, but Shelley can smell a bad bilge from Austin. The real problem was a leaking macerator pump....well you do not want to know.

This morning we woke early knowing that we wanted to get across the lake before the winds kicked up. We untied from the dock wall before dawn. We were not the first off our dock, as two other boats left ahead of us headed for Stuart as well. The lock into Okeechobee was just a 100 yards from the wall we stayed on, and as soon as the far gate of the lock opened, we ran into the thickest fog I have ever seen, let alone try to navigate a boat through. Luckily my Chartplotter works great, and Shelley stood on the bow watching for obstacles. Literally we could only see about 15 yards in front of the boat. Rock Chalk runs at almost 6 mph at idle, which felt like way too fast in that soupy stuff.

As the sun finally came up it gave us better visibility which lead to some fantastic photos, that unfortunately I still have not figured out how to attach. Soon I promise. Lots of alligators in the water and on the banks, so this is not the place to water ski, although the water surface was smooth as glass. Memories of Table Rock, except we did not worry about large creatures biting our leg off on our early morning skiing there.

The fog had lifted by the time we got to open water in Okeechobee. You cannot see shore from the middle of that lake, so again we were following our chartplotter. The lake was smooth and it was a beautiful ride across. We picked up a mooring ball in Stuart, and cleaned the boat. It was time for a cigar and beer. Nuf said. Marc





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